By John Vrancic
For the Newberry News
It was rough going for a young and shorthanded Newberry wrestling team in Munising on Saturday.
Despite all that, the Indians had a few shining moments in the Munising Holiday Super Duals.
Junior Gaijye Depew finished undefeated through four matches at 126 points and classmate Delany Bliss ended on a positive note by pinning Gwinn’s Evan Armatti 40 seconds into a 120 match.
“Gaijye had a really good day,” coach Howard Bliss said. “Almost 50 percent of our team are first- and second-year wrestlers. This is absolutely a learning experience. We have a total of eight wrestlers. We’re struggling to get matches in our practices.”
Menominee was crowned champion with 257 points. The Maroons were followed by Munising 250, Ishpeming Westwood 228, Gwinn 215, Sault Ste. Marie 177, St. Ignace 167, Rudyard 143, Norway 137, Newberry 104, and Manistique 100.
The Indians opened with a 66-12 loss to Menominee, then fell to Westwood (48-23), Munising (59-18), Norway (30-29) and Gwinn (53-22).
Delaney Bliss, who normally wrestles at 113, improved to 11-6.
“I was bumped up for all my matches today,” she added. “I’m more comfortable at 113, but I think I’m doing really well. I’m really happy with all my matches and proud of our team. We were missing some kids today, but it was fun.”
The meet moved along swiftly, with matches taking place on four mats throughout the tournament.
Rosters, however, weren’t available for some teams.
The Newberry girls head downstate for Friday’s Gladwin Invitational. The boys are entered in Saturday’s Escanaba Elks Invite, which begins at 10 a.m.
